The water cooler will be a popular destination on Monday. Feel free to discuss the greatest weekend of regular-season football in Arizona history.

And welcome to the big time.

The Cardinals made it a clean sweep on Sunday, after Arizona State won a division championship on the road, and after Arizona roasted those daffy Ducks in Tucson.

Our NFL team crushed the first-place Colts, 40-11. The margin of victory was an impact statement. While the roof remains closed in Glendale, you could almost see the ceiling of opportunity raise for the surging Cardinals.

“I knew it was coming,” Cardinals quarterback Carson Palmer said.

This game should tell you something about the competitiveness of head coach Bruce Arians, who is 7-4 as a rookie head coach after winning nine of 12 games as interim coach with the Colts last season. His game plan and play-calling were superb. He had no emotional barriers squaring off against Colts head coach Chuck Pagano, the man who beat cancer, the man who resurrected Arians’ career.

To the contrary, Arians was ruthless as promised. And when talking about the importance of next week’s game in Philadelphia, he seemed to have little doubt about where his team is heading.

“Probably in the playoffs, we’ll be on the road,” Arians said. “And we have to learn how to win on the road.”

Here’s what’s most encouraging: Of all the potential wild-card teams in the NFC, none has the growth potential of the Cardinals, a team that struggled offensively for the first two months of the season. But now the water is beginning to boil.

Rob Housler is becoming a real contributor. Michael Floyd is morphing into a dominant receiver. Larry Fitzgerald is finally healthy and primed for a dominant stretch run. And on Sunday, the oft-criticized Rashard Mendenhall had his finest game in Arizona, showing real burst.

“Rashard looked like himself,” Arians said.

To a man, the offense is beginning to roar, not croak. Eleven different players caught passes against the Colts, with five of them producing chunk plays of at least 20 yards. Two running backs rushed for 50 or more yards. The Cardinals picked up 18 first downs via the passing game, three more than the entire Colts offense produced.

This game was also another triumph for Palmer, who continues to look better each week, even with that expanding handlebar mustache.

Palmer hasn’t thrown an interception in two games, and there was no debate which former No. 1 draft pick won the quarterback battle on Sunday.

“Identity-wise, we’re a defensive football team,” Palmer said. “The first thing I think of is having to play against Patrick Peterson, Calais (Campbell), (Darnell) Dockett and (Karlos) Dansby. You can go on and on, Jerraud (Powers) and all the guys we have …

“So the first thing I think about is that we’re a defensive team. But nothing says we can’t develop into an offensive team. We’re not there yet. We’ve got a lot of work to do and a long way to go. They lead the way. (But) we want to get to the point where you look at both sides of the ball and you don’t know which side is playing better. It’s where we want to get to.”

To recap: What a freakishly good weekend. Three crucial victories where Arizona teams doubled up the opponent, winning by a combined score of 120-60; all three scored a touchdown on their first possession of the game; the Cardinals and ASU each had a linebacker return an interception for a touchdown; the Wildcats had a running back carry the ball 48 times, and Ka’Deem Carey is suddenly a new player in the Heisman Trophy race.

There was also a moment of utter disbelief on Saturday. After Arizona beat No. 5 Oregon, ASU fans realized the Pac-12 Championship Game might actually be held at Sun Devil Stadium. I’m guessing bar owners on Mill Avenue almost fainted with excitement.

It was almost like that surreal moment in 2009, when the stars suddenly aligned and you realized the Cardinals were actually hosting the NFC Championship Game.

There was a similar moment on Sunday, when the Cardinals were gashing the Colts and the fans were leaving early out of boredom. You realized the last game of the NFL season — a home contest against the hated 49ers — will likely occur with a playoff berth on the line.

Doesn’t get any better than this weekend?

Actually, it might.

Reach Bickley at dan.bickley@arizonarepublic.com or 602-444-8253. Follow him at twitter.com/danbickley. Listen to “The Dan Bickley Show With Vince Marotta,” weekdays from 12 to 2 p.m. on Arizona Sports 620 (KTAR-AM).

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